Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Alerts
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Author's Takes
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Lung inflammatory injury and tissue repair (Jul 2023)
    • Immune Environment in Glioblastoma (Feb 2023)
    • Korsmeyer Award 25th Anniversary Collection (Jan 2023)
    • Aging (Jul 2022)
    • Next-Generation Sequencing in Medicine (Jun 2022)
    • New Therapeutic Targets in Cardiovascular Diseases (Mar 2022)
    • Immunometabolism (Jan 2022)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Commentaries
    • Research letters
    • Letters to the editor
    • Editorials
    • Viewpoint
    • Top read articles
  • Clinical Medicine
  • JCI This Month
    • Current issue
    • Past issues

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Author's Takes
  • In-Press Preview
  • Commentaries
  • Research letters
  • Letters to the editor
  • Editorials
  • Viewpoint
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Alerts
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Subscribe
  • Contact
Top
  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Share this article
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal
  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Advertisement

Research Article Free access | 10.1172/JCI107241

Functional Evaluation of Prolactin Secretion in Patients with Hypothalamic-Pituitary Disorders

G. Tolis, M. Goldstein, and H. G. Friesen

1McGill University Clinic, Division of Endocrinology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal 112, P.Q., Canada

Find articles by Tolis, G. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

1McGill University Clinic, Division of Endocrinology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal 112, P.Q., Canada

Find articles by Goldstein, M. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

1McGill University Clinic, Division of Endocrinology, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal 112, P.Q., Canada

Find articles by Friesen, H. in: JCI | PubMed | Google Scholar

Published April 1, 1973 - More info

Published in Volume 52, Issue 4 on April 1, 1973
J Clin Invest. 1973;52(4):783–788. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI107241.
© 1973 The American Society for Clinical Investigation
Published April 1, 1973 - Version history
View PDF
Abstract

Prolactin secretion was assessed in 23 patients with hypothalamic-pituitary disorders using L-Dopa suppression, chlorpromazine (CPZ), and thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) stimulation tests. Based on the responses to these tests, three groups of patients were identified: those with panhypopituitarism (group I) and those with partial hypopituitarism either with (group II) or without (group III) evidence of hypothalamic involvement.

Panhypopituitary patients (group I) consistently had low serum prolactin values and failed to respond to all tests. Patients with hypothalamic involvement (group II) exhibited (a) elevated basal prolactin values. (b) an increase in serum prolactin after TRH stimulation. (c) blunted response to L-Dopa, and (d) lack of response to chlorpromazine stimulation. Patients with partial hypopituitarism but without hypothalamic involvement (group III) had normal serum prolactin levels and suppressed normally after L-Dopa; although the magnitude of response to both stimulatory agents was significantly lower than normally found the ratio of prolactin levels post-CPZ and TRH (Δ prolactin CPZ/Δ prolactin TRH) was similar to the ratio of normal individuals suggesting that these patients (group III) had a normal hypothalamic-pituitary prolactin axis.

In the 23 patients studied, the most consistent disorder of pituitary function proved to be an abnormal response to one or other of the three tests employed for the evaluation of prolactin secretion. Hence these tests have considerable potential as a sensitive screening procedure in the evaluation of patients suspected of having hypothalamic-pituitary disease.

Browse pages

Click on an image below to see the page. View PDF of the complete article

icon of scanned page 783
page 783
icon of scanned page 784
page 784
icon of scanned page 785
page 785
icon of scanned page 786
page 786
icon of scanned page 787
page 787
icon of scanned page 788
page 788
Version history
  • Version 1 (April 1, 1973): No description

Article tools

  • View PDF
  • Download citation information
  • Send a comment
  • Share this article
  • Terms of use
  • Standard abbreviations
  • Need help? Email the journal

Metrics

  • Article usage
  • Citations to this article

Go to

  • Top
  • Abstract
  • Version history
Advertisement
Advertisement

Copyright © 2023 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts